Tomilap, Bhenz Bryle Nino M.

Atty. Christian Fernandez

Practice Court II – 7093 Class

Updates in Labor Law and Legal Ethics Lectures by Prof. Paulino Ungos III and
Judge Romeo Reyes Jr.

Labor Law Lectures – Prof. Paulino Ungos III Notes:

I. Classification of Employment
a. Regular / Permanent Employment
- the employee has been required to perform activities that are usually necessary and
desirable in the usual business or trade of the employer;
- it is determined not by the employment contract nor by the nomenclature of the job but
by its nature.

b. Non-regular / Temporary Employment

i. Project Employment
- when the job is confined to a specific project or undertaking, the completion or
termination of which has been determined at the time of the engagement of the
employee, regardless of the number of years it would take to finish the undertaking;
- it could either refer to a particular job or undertaking that is within the regular or usual
business of the ER, but which is distinct and separate and identifiable as such, from the
other undertakings of the company;
- begins and ends at determined or determinable times.

ii. Seasonal Employment

- employment that is limited to the duration of a particular season and coterminous with
the duration of the season
- EXC: If the same EEs are repeatedly engaged every season, they become regular
seasonal employees.

iii. Fixed Term Employment

- refer to those employees with a specific date of termination;
- the determining factor is not the activity that the EE is called upon to perform but the
day certain agreed upon by the parties.

iv. Casual Employment

- a kind of employment where the activities performed by the employee are not usually
necessary or desirable in the usual business or trade of the employee

v. Probationary Employment
- a kind of employment wherein the employee, upon his engagement, is made to
undergo a trial period where the employer determines his fitness to qualify for regular
employment, based on reasonable standards made known to him at the time of
engagement.
- the probationary employment contract should specifically state that the management
of the employee is on probationary basis, otherwise, the employment cannot be
considered as probationary.

II. Unfair Labor Practices

a. Violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement
b. Restraint or Coercion
c. Featherbreading
d. Discrimination
e. Violation of duty to bargain collectively
- union must be certified by CEBA first
- or the collective bargaining agent be chosen thru elections

III. Valid Causes of Dismissal

1. Violation of company rules and regulations
2. Breach of union security arrangements;
a. Limitations:
i. Employees who are already members of another union at the time of the signing of
the CBA cannot be dismissed for refusing to join the contracting union.
ii. Employees who refuse to join the contracting union because of prohibition imposed
by their religion cannot likewise be dismissed;
iii. If it’s was the contracting union itself who refused to accept the employee as its
member, the union cannot validly ask for the dismissal of the employee
iv. If the employee resigns from the contracting union during the freedom period, the
union cannot validly ask for the dismissal of an employee.

3. Participation in an illegal strike

a. Any union officer who knowingly participates in an illegal strike may be declared to
have lost their employment status.
4. Commission of illegal acts during a strike
a. Union officer or worker
5. Defiance of return-to-work order in a strike; and
6. Sexual harassment

IV. Procedure for Terminating an Employee

i. Termination of an Employee
1. Voluntary Resignation
- refers to the formal renouncement or relinquishment of an office. It is the voluntary act
severing an employment relation at the initiative of the employee who finds himself in a
situation where he believes that personal reasons cannot be sacrificed in favor of the
exigency of service that he has no other choice but to disassociate himself from his
employment.
- once resignation is accepted by the employer, it may not be withdrawn without the
consent of the employer.
2. Constructive Resignation (abandonment of employment)
- refers to a deliberate, unjustified refusal of an employee to resume his work
- Elements:
a.) Absence without notice, permission or justifiable reason
b.) Intent to sever the employment relationship

3. Involuntary Resignation (constructive dismissal)

- refers a situation where an EE is constrained to quit his job because continued
employment is rendered impossible, unreasonable or unlikely ;
- there is demotion in rank, diminution in pay or when there is a clear discrimination,
insensibility, or disdain by an employer becomes unbearable to the employee

ii. One-month Notice

- the employer is required to give his employee a written notice of resignation at least 1
month in advance. Otherwise, the employer can hold him liable for damages.
- The employer cannot compel the employee to render service during the period
because that would amount to involuntary servitude.

Legal Ethics Lectures – Judge Romeo Reyes:

• Branch of moral law which treats of the duties that an attorney owes:
1. to the PUBLIC (Canons 1-6);
2. to the BAR (Canons 7-9);
3. to the COURT (Canons 10-13); and
4. to his CLIENT (Canons 14-22)
- as embodied in the Constitution, Rules of Court, the CPR, the CPE, jurisprudence, and
special law
• Referred to as the Four-Fold Duties of a Lawyer
Importance of Legal Ethics
• It is a required bar subject in order to emphasize its importance in ensuring the
continued existence of the law profession.
• The highest moral and ethical standards in the law profession should be maintained so
that the people will continue to repose their trust in lawyers and in the role that they play
in the efficient and speedy administration of justice.

Significance of Legal Ethics

• Guards against the abuses and ills of the profession, such as dishonesty, decei t ,
negligence, immorality and other forms of malpractice
• Raises the standard of the legal profession
• Encourages and enhances the respect for the law
• Assures an effective and efficient administration of justice
• Assists in the keeping and maintenance of law and order
• Provides basis for the weeding out of the unfit and the misfit

Definition of Terms
• Bar & Bench
○ Bar — Refers to the whole body of attorneys and counselors, collectively the
members of the legal profession
○ Bench — denotes the whole body of judges
• Bar Admission — act by which one is licensed to practice before courts of a particular
state or jurisdiction after satisfying certain requirements such as bar examinations,
period of residency or admission on grounds of reciprocity after period of years as
member of bar of another jurisdiction
• Trial Lawyer — one who personally handles cases in court, administrative agencies of
boards which mean engaging in actual trial work, either for the prosecution or for the
defense of cases of clients
• Practicing Lawyer — one engaged in the practice of law who by license are officers of
the court and who are empowered to appear, prosecute and defend a client’s cause.
• Pro Se — an appearance by a lawyer in his own
behalf
• Client — one who engages the services of a lawyer for legal advice or for purposes of
prosecuting or defending a suit in behalf and usually for a fee.

Regulation of Practice of Law

Supreme Court (Article VIII, Sec. 5 (5), 1987 Constitution)
• Promulgate rules concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights,
pleading, practice and procedure in all courts, the admission to the practice of law, the
Integrated Bar, and legal assistance to the under privileged.

• Nature of the Power

○ Judicial in Nature
○ Judicial Discretion

Practice of Law
• Means any activity, in or out of court, which requires the application of law, legal
procedure, knowledge, training, and experience. To engage in the practice of law is to
perform acts which are usually performed by members of the legal profession.
Generally, to practice law is to render any kind of service which requires the use of legal
knowledge or skill. (Cayetano vs. Monsod G.R. No. 100113, 3 September 1991)

Rule 138, Rules of Court, Section 2.

Requirements for all applicants for admission to
the bar — Every applicant for admission as a member of the bar must be a citizen of
the Philippines, at least twenty-one years of age, of good moral character, and resident
of the Philippines; and must produce before the Supreme Court satisfactory evidence of
good moral character, and that no charges against him, involving moral turpitude, have
been filed or are pending in any court in the Philippines.

Qualifications for Admission to Practice of Law

1. Citizen of the Philippines
2. Resident of the Philippines
3. At least 21 years old
4. A person of good moral character
5. No charges against him, involving moral turpitude, filed or are pending in court
6. Possess the required educational qualifications
7. Pass the bar examinations
8. Take the lawyer’s oath
9. Sign the roll of attorneys

Continuing Requirements for the Practice of Law

1. Good and regular standing
2. Membership in the IBP
3. Payment of IBP dues
4. Payment of professional tax
5. Compliance with the MCLE
6. Possession of good moral character

Purposes of Good Moral Character Requirements

1. to protect the public;
2. to protect the public image of lawyers;
3. to protect prospective clients;
4. to protect errant lawyers from themselves;

Pro Se Practice
• Appearance in “proporia persona” — appearance in court by a non-lawyer for himself
without the assistance of a member of the bar
• Pro se practice which means a party may conduct his own litigation by prosecuting or
defending in court his own case is a allowed in the Philippines
• Section 3, Rule 7 of the Rules of Court implicitly recognizes the right of an individual to
represent himself — “Every pleading must be signed by the party or counsel
representing him…”
• While pro se practice is allowed, it may not be advisable to do so. Court proceedings
are full of technical pitfalls that may entrap a person unschooled in substantive and
procedural law. “It is said that a little learning is a dangerous thing; and that he who acts
as his own lawyer has a fool for a client.”

Appearance of a non-lawyer agent or friend of a party litigant

• A non-lawyer agent or friend of a party litigant may, in an MTC, MCTC, be appointed
by a party litigant to conduct his litigation. The rule is applicable not only in civil cases
but also in criminal cases where the party litigant may appoint an agent or friend as
private prosecutor under the supervision and control of the trial public prosecutor.

• The privilege to be represented by a non-lawyer friend or agent does not extend to

representation before the RTC and higher courts — court procedures are often
technical and may prove like snares to the ignorant or unwary; for the protection of the
parties and in the interest of justice.

Law Student Practice Rule (Rule 138-A)

• Requirements:
1. Has successfully completed his 3rd year of the regular four-year prescribed
curriculum
2. Enrolled in a recognized law school’s clinical legal education program approved by
the Supreme Court

• Conditions:
✶ The appearance of the law student shall be under the direct supervision and control
of a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines duly accredited by the law school;
✶ Any and all pleadings, motions, briefs, memoranda or other papers to be filed, must
be signed by the supervising attorney for and in behalf of the legal clinic
• The phrase “direct supervision and control” requires no less than the physical
presence of the supervising lawyer during the hearing.

Public Officials Who are Absolutely Prohibited from Practicing Law:

1. Judges and other officials as employees of the Supreme Court

2. Officials and employees of the OSG
3. Government prosecutors
4. President, Vice-President, members of the cabinet, their deputies and assistants
5. Chairman and members of the Constitutional Commission
6. Ombudsman and his deputies
7. All governors, city and municipal mayors
8. Civil service officers or employees whose duties require them to devote their entire
time at the disposal of the government
9. Those prohibited by special law are prohibited from engaging in the practice of their
legal profession

Public Officials — Practice with Restrictions

1. Senators and Members of the House of Representatives
- may personally appear as counsel before any court of justice as before the Electoral
Tribunals, as quasi-judicial and other administration bodies

2. Members of the Sanggunian

- may practice their professions except during session hours: provided that the
sanggunian members who are also members of the bar shall:
๏ not appear as counsel before any court in any civil case wherein a local government
unit or any office, agency, or instrumentality of the government is the adverse party;

๏ not appear as counsel in any criminal case wherein an officer or employee of the
national or local government is accused of an offense committed in relation to his office;
๏ not collect any fee for their appearance in administrative proceedings involving the
local government unit of which he is an official;
๏ not use property and personnel of the government except when the Sanggunian
member concerned is defending the interest of the government.

3. Retired Justice or Judge

- a retired justice or judge receiving pension from the government, cannot act as
counsel in any civil case in which the Government, or any of its subdivision or agencies
is the adverse party or in a criminal case wherein an officer or employee of the
Government is accused of an offense in relation to his office.

4. Civil service officers or employees whose duty does not require their entire
time to be at the disposal of the government
- No officer or employee shall engage directly in any private business, vocation, or
profession or be connected with any commercial, credit, agricultural, or industrial
undertaking without a written permission from the head of the Department.